Miss Ixia  The Past Catches Up
by KIxia
Summary: Valek hires a new food taster but gets more than he expected. The past catches with him. This is set after the study series so Valek and Yelena are still together
1. Chapter 1

I Would Do It Again in a Heartbeat

I am sitting alone in an empty cell. This place is really depressing. It is dark and the smell is awful. There was always a risk I would end up here but it was a risk I was willing to take. I knew I would die soon but at least then this experience would be over. I only hoped that my message which reach the right person so that they could take over my task of protecting those children.

I thought that I had that covered. I had a letter well hidden on me which explained why I did what I did and I knew all prisoners went to see one of the commander's advisors to confess their crimes before they were hung. I only hoped that whoever I saw would be trustworthy enough to make sure the letter reached the commander or preferably Valek without anyone else having chance to read it.

There was a loud bang and about a dozen guards entered the dungeons. They came up to my cell and one of them ordered

"Move it rat, it is time to go."

I got up and started heading for the entrance.

"Not so quickly," the guard yelled backing away.

I was confused for a few seconds. I had seen loads of prisoners being taken from their cells and the guards always wanted them to move quicker. Then I saw the other guards had backed away as well. I realized that they were frightened of me. It was really quite amusing. Little did they know that if I was going to fight them the worst thing that they could do would be to give me extra space to move.

When we finally got out the dungeons we started moving through corridors. The sunlight was blindingly bright after being in the darkness of the dungeons for so long so I was walking along with my eyes barely open. I didn't really keep track of which direction we were moving in. I doubt it would make much difference anyway. I remembered when I first arrived at the Commander's castle. The building looked like someone had put lots of big blocks of stone haphazardly on top of other blocks. Each floor was a different shape. I thought it was a miracle the building was still standing.

We stopped outside a door with loads of locks. One of the guards knocked. When the door opened I was dragged in and chained to one of the chairs. The guards were then dismissed and I was left alone with the advisor. I looked at the man standing behind the desk. He was fairly tall with longish black curly hair. However the main thing that stood out about him was his bright blue eyes.

I sat silently studying him for a few minutes, not even realizing he was talking to me. I was stunned. I had done some research on Valek before the event had even happened so I knew to look out for bright blue eyes but this surely couldn't be him. If it was then he had just made my job of getting the letter to him much easier.


	2. Chapter 2

Food Taster

"Are you even listening to me?" asked the advisor sounding frustrated.

"What," I jumped realizing he was talking to me.

"I have been talking to you, trying to discuss why you are here and whether you have any excuses for what you did but you have been ignoring me."

"Oh, um, sorry I hadn't noticed you were talking."

This is no good I have to find out for sure whether he was Valek. Now how can I put this subtly? "Are you Valek?" Oh well, if you can't think of anything subtle may as well be blunt.

"Why would you care?"

"Just thought you might be. If you are, it seems a bit weird you doing this interview. I would have thought the Commander's head of security would have more important things to do."

"Eight people were killed during that incident last year. I want to know what happened and who you were working with"

"I'll take that as a yes then. Anyway the eye witness testimony from that incident as you called it was inaccurate and unreliable. You can't prove I was involved let alone anyone else."

"Well you were there so why don't you give me an accurate description of what happened and are you really trying to pretend you weren't involved."

"I never said that."

"You are definitely one of the more interesting prisoners I have met."

"Well to be honest as your going to kill me anyway I don't see why I shouldn't have my say." This is far more fun than I thought it would be. He probably thinks I am crazy but I don't really mind.

"Huh, that's another thing I had to talk to you about. The Commander's food taster has recently died. Unfortunately the job has to be offered to next in line for the noose. That would be you."

Now things were really getting interesting. If I kept the letter and accepted the job I would be able to live and protect the kids myself. However I was under no illusions if I gave him the letter I would outlive my usefulness. Everyone knew Valek arranged who was the food taster and would get rid of any he didn't have any interest in.

"You have stopped listening again and gone quiet."

"Thinking… I'll take it"

"I haven't even told you anything about it yet."

"No need, I am very good at making decisions."

"If you're sure, it is traditional to drink a toast to the new food taster," said Valek walking to one of his cabinets behind him and with his back to me pouring two drinks. He then turned around and handed me a drink saying "To our new food taster. May you last longer than your predecessor"

"Lovely, just out of interest, how long did the last food taster last."

"You're actually meant to drink some instead of asking questions."

"Ah you don't want to tell me." I took a small sip of the drink which tasted sweet and peachy. "It's a bit sweet, could do with less honey in it."

Valek looked up at the ceiling as a look of frustration crossed his face. It disappeared in a millisecond and he was back to the normal facial expression that gave nothing away. "Are you going to criticize everything?"

"It makes sense to me as I don't know all the poisons there might be something I don't recognize but the description I give may ring alarm bells for you?"

"I knew I was going to regret hiring you. Can we continue with the lesson or do you wish to add any more comments."

"This is a lesson?"

"I am trying to teach you different methods of tasting what is in the drink."

"Your not doing a very good job are you?"

"You're the one who keeps interrupting. Why couldn't I have a normal person who just does what they are told?"

"That would be boring. Consider it a challenge." Ha, he almost smiled then.

"Just take another sip and roll the liquid around your tongue before swallowing"

I did that and this time tasted oranges. "Orange, who mixes over sweetened peaches with oranges?"

"Now gargle it," he said ignoring my comment.

"I did that and tasted… "Rank! Rotten oranges, that is disgusting." I said spitting it back into the glass."

"That drink contains a poison called butterfly dust. The only way to detect it in a drink is to gargle it."

"Won't the Commander think I am a bit strange if I gargle all his drinks?"

"Trust me; the Commander will think you are strange anyway. Anyway that's not the point. Butterfly's Dust will kill you within 48 hours if you don't receive the antidote. Therefore you will have to come to me to receive anti dote every morning. It is also the reason why you should ask questions before accepting a job."


	3. Chapter 3

My Love

"We will start off with the most lethal poison. Then if you survive it go through the others. This one is called My Love," said Valek.

I had been working with him for couple of weeks learning about different tasting techniques and identifying some poisons by smell. It seemed that I was now ready to try tasting for some poisons. I looked at Valek and even through he was trying to hide it he seemed happier than I had seen him before. Three guesses why that was.

"There is no need to look so happy about poisoning me."

"At least I will have a few days peace while you are recovering."

"You think I will survive it then. What symptoms can I expect?"

"Why don't you just drink it and find out?"

"I like to be prepared. Anyway you're the one that said I should ask more questions when you are trying to poison me."

"Hallucinations and some sickness, nothing that bad," he shrugged.

"Unless I die," I joked "Anyway I don't think many people will agree with your definition of not too bad."

I drank from the glass and found it tasted a bit like cooking apples. "Its quite sour isn't it"

The effect was almost immediate. The room felt smaller and everything in it morphed to look like something else. I turned to where Valek had been and saw a big hairy black creature with long arms. Surprisingly his eyes stayed the same. "You have Valek eyes," I giggled.

Someone came up behind me and took me from the room into the corridor. Afterwards I would think it was probably Margg (Valek's grumpy housekeeper) but at this time I was really not able to think anything sensible. "Oh, look, a tree." I got out of Margg's grip and sprinted down the corridor. I was determined to climb the tree but it wouldn't keep still.

"I haven't seen a tree like you before. Will you keep still," I told the tree while trying to climb up into the swaying branches. I heard some laughing. I turned around and asked "Why is the monkey laughing. Does he want to go up the tree."

"Up a tree, more likely she is off her tree," someone behind me muttered and carried me to my room. When I finally managed to turn around I realized it was the creature with Valek eyes.

"I need to see the tree. It is very unusual."

"We have no trees growing in the castle and I doubt that Ari wants you pestering him," the creature said and shut the door in my face.


	4. Chapter 4

I Found a Man!

"She is not there," announced Margg as she barged into Valek's office.

"Who isn't where," Valek questioned looking up from a thick file of papers.

"The new food taster, she is not in her room."

"Go look for her then, she can't have gone far. She only took the my love poison yesterday," ordered Valek returning to his papers.

Margg left the office but return half an hour later saying "I can't find her; she isn't anywhere I could think of to look."

Valek looked up again. "Why can't anyone do a simple job themselves around here," he muttered as he left his office to go look.

He thought he would find her fairly easily and that Margg just hadn't been too bothered so hadn't looked properly. However after searching himself for half an hour he still hadn't found her and was growing increasingly frustrated so decided to get a group of people together to search while he got back to his work.

As he walked back to his office he stopped one of the servants and sent them to get some soldiers to come to the office. A little while later his office was full of soldiers and servant all looking expectantly at Valek.

"The food taster has gone missing and I would like you to find her," he explained.

"She could be anywhere by now, couldn't she," asked one of the soldiers.

"No, she can't have gone far. She took the my love poison yesterday so will still be suffering the affects of it."

"Is this the girl that was trying to climb up Ari yesterday then," asked one of the soldiers smiling. "If she can't go far on her own maybe someone took her."

"Why would someone take her? It makes no sense. If they did my sympathies are with them. They would get a bit of a surprise when she is back to normal."

I was nice and comfy curled up in some straw, inside the stables. It was very quiet here; the only sound was the rustling of the horses as they moved around their stalls. It also smelled much better in here. The smell when I left my room early this morning was awful. I wondered what time it was but then decided I didn't care. I knew it must be daytime because sunlight was streaming in through the entrance but I was just so comfy I ended up falling asleep again.

When I woke up I heard footsteps entering the stables. A few minutes later a face appeared at the entrance to the stall I was in.

"Hello, what are you doing here then," he asked.

"Comfy, who are you?"

"Hello Comfy, my name is Janco. Did you know lots of people are looking for you?"

"Why would people been looking for me?"

"Valek decided you were missing. He isn't happy."

"I don't think I have ever seen him happy."

"Do you recognize me?" asked Janco grinning.

"Why would I recognize you?" I asked confused "I have never seen you before."

"I have seen you before. You said that I was a monkey and Ari was a tree and tried climbing him."

"You are completely mad," I said laughing.

"If I am mad then why are you smiling?"

"I don't mind mad people," I explained.

"Ok, well we better get you back to the castle before anyone realizes I have already found you."

"No, I am sleepy so staying here."

The next thing I knew he had picked me up and was carrying me back to the castle. When we got to Valek's office he knocked on the door and then strode in announcing "I found her."

"Where have you been?" Valek demanded.

"I found a man," I announced.

"I don't care, it is not the answer to my question," said Valek. Then looking at Janco he asked "Are you planning on putting her down today?"


End file.
